Zelai

Updated: January 2013

It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Zelai. When it first opened in 2008 it was one of the new trendy “gastrobars” that were starting to make a splash around Sevilla, and although I was a bit surprised (okay, shocked) by the high prices, at the time I thought that maybe it was worth paying more for a bit of innovative cuisine. So I tried it out a few times without ever being overly impressed and eventually stopped going.

Fastforward to January 2013. A quick “catch-up” lunch with a friend, which I’d hoped would also bring me up-to-date with Zelai, ended up with both of us shaking our heads. First of all the service was, well, rude. There was no mention of daily specials (why not? because we hadn’t asked!), the waiter insisted on speaking to us in English even though we spoke to him in fluent Spanish, and when we had ordered a tapa starter to be followed by our other choices, everything was all brought at once. When questioned about this the waiter told us “that’s the way we do it”.

As for the food, the jamón croquettes were tasty, but my friend’s beef solomillo at 6.50€ (ordered medium) arrived burnt on the outside and tough on the inside. My mini-burger at 5.80€ (ordered well-done) came dried out and flavourless. By the way, these are tapas prices and the portions were not generous. On top of that we were charged an extra 1€ for a small roll and two packets of picos. Adding insult to injury, a pleasant but average ruedo verdejo cost 3.20€ a glass. So… with so many other fabulous places to eat in the centre of Sevilla that offer great service and much better value, I don’t think we’ll be heading back here again soon.